Head of Campaigns (Maternity Cover) in Sheffield

Salary: £60,000

Contract: Temporary

Hours: 37.5 per week (Monday to Friday)

Holiday: 25 days per year plus bank holidays

Location: Home based with regular travel across the UK

Probationary Period: 3 months

Reports to: Chief Executive

Benefits: An additional 3 days holiday between Christmas and New Year, Flexitime policy, 5% pension contribution

Anticipated contract duration: 9th November 2026 - February 2028

We are River Action, a small and agile campaigning organisation on a mission to rescue the UK’s rivers from pollution and water shortages. We support community action, galvanise public opinion, influence government policy, take legal actions and call out destructive industrial practices.

Who we are looking for:

We’re looking for an exceptional campaigner to lead an ambitious environmental campaigning programme for just over a year to cover maternity leave. This is an exciting opportunity for an inspiring leader who can develop bold, strategic campaigns that shift public debate, influence decision-makers and deliver tangible environmental outcomes.

You’ll be an experienced campaign strategist who understands that lasting change rarely comes from a single tactic. You’ll know how to bring together compelling communications, evidence and investigations, grassroots mobilisation, political engagement, legal interventions and partnerships into integrated campaigns capable of changing policy, behaviour and corporate practice.

We’re looking for someone who combines strategic vision with practical delivery, comfortable making decisions in a fast-moving environment, spotting opportunities as they emerge and adapting campaigns to maximise impact. Experience in environmental campaigning would be highly valuable, but above all we’re looking for someone with an outstanding track record of leading successful campaigns that have shifted opinion, influenced policy or held powerful institutions to account.

If you’re motivated by creating change, thrive in a dynamic environment and want to lead campaigns that make a genuine difference to one of the UK’s greatest environmental challenges, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll be doing:

• Developing and delivering bold, integrated campaigns that drive lasting change for the UK’s rivers.
• Leading and inspiring a talented team of campaigners, helping them to develop innovative, impactful campaigns while fostering a collaborative, ambitious and supportive culture.
• Working closely with colleagues across communications, policy, legal, fundraising and research, ensuring our work is strategically aligned.
• Shaping the organisation's campaigning strategy, ensuring our work is innovative, evidence-led and designed to influence public opinion, hold polluters to account and secure meaningful political and systemic change.
• Creating campaigns that connect compelling storytelling with community mobilisation, strategic communications, political advocacy, legal action and partnerships.
• Providing strategic leadership across the full campaign lifecycle, overseeing campaign planning, delivery, budgeting, resourcing and evaluation.
• Leading River Action's communications and public profile, ensuring our campaigns cut through the national conversation, inspire public action and strengthen our reputation.
• Working in close partnership with the Head of Public Affairs and Head of Legal to ensure campaigns are fully integrated and informed by community action.
• Contributing to organisational leadership beyond your own department and securing the resources needed to deliver our ambitions.

Main Duties:

• Provide strategic leadership as a member of the Senior Management Team.
• Lead the development and delivery of River Action's integrated campaigning strategy.
• Develop and oversee a portfolio of ambitious national campaigns.
• Lead River Action's communications, media and public engagement strategy.
• Oversee River Action's digital campaigning platforms.
• Build and maintain influential relationships with campaign partners, coalitions, NGOs, academics, community organisations, funders and other key stakeholders.
• Lead campaign planning, governance and delivery.
• Inspire and develop the Campaigns Team.
• Support organisational reporting by contributing to Board papers and performance monitoring.

Other Duties & Responsibilities:

• Engage in personal and professional development.
• Adhere to health and safety responsibilities.
• Maintain confidentiality in all areas of work.
• UK travel will be required.
• Demonstrate a strong commitment to creating an inclusive, equal and diverse workplace.

What you’ll bring:

• Strategic, well-organised, energetic, passionate and dedicated.
• Excellent leadership and people skills.
• Ability to think strategically to deliver positively disruptive campaigns.
• Line management experience of highly experienced professionals.
• Creative problem-solving skills.
• Experience in public and/or political campaigning.
• Exceptional IT literacy and budgeting skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of people.
• A passion for River Action’s mission and vision.

Diversity and Inclusion:

We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace. If you like the look of this role but your past experience does not align perfectly with everything in the job description, we would still like to hear from you.

How to apply:

To apply, please submit your CV, a cover letter explaining why you want to work for River Action and how your skills and experience meet the requirements of the role, and a written submission as described below. Only applications including all three documents will be accepted. Please provide your documents in pdf format.

Written submission:

River Action is looking to develop a campaign around water security in the UK to launch in 2027. Please put together a campaign brief setting out the challenges faced, how we would develop and deliver this campaign including campaign asks; campaign outcomes; public, political and legal tactics; routes for funding and resource requirements. Your campaign brief should be no longer than 2 sides of A4.

Application process:

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until 23:59 on 19th July. Should your application be shortlisted, the next stage will involve an initial 30-minute interview on 28th July via video conference.